Atlantic Canada airport thread
 

For all the airport talk from our heck of the woods

Bathurst airport numbers
 

Passengers - 40 022 down 3% from 2009 mostly because the strip was closed for 3 weeks for resurfacing(69 flights cancelled) Not bad considering last year they had an additional flight for the months of the acadian congress. Numbers have been good for the last years.

Infrastructures - 2010 has seen the resurfacing of the strip and GPS capabilities.

Future plans - expansion of the parking area(120 to 200), double the size of the terminal( for those of you who thinks the terminal is crowded when the 37 pass plane lands, imagine when the 50 pass comes in) And extension of the runway from 5000 ft to 5900 ft to accomodate larger planes and be more appealing to airlines.

290,000 out of the Charlottetown airport for 2010. This is a 4.3% increase from 2009.

http://www.flypei.com/newsevents_item.php?news_id=90

Greater Moncton International
 

Can't wait to see 2010 statistics for the GMIA, it's due to be released in May. For 2011 I wish Moncton gets a flight to Boston and one to St. John's (N.F.L)...

Over 1.3 million people travelled through St, John's International, up eight per cent from 2009.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/...in-St.-Johns/1

The Greater Moncton International Airport should have a passenger count in the vicinity of 590,000 for 2010. This is over 50% of the provincial total for NB.

Porter Airlines has been a good addition for the airport this year. They have flights to Ottawa and Toronto (Billy Bishop). WestJet, Air Canada and Continental also have regularly scheduled service to the GMIA.

The charter season is getting under way. You can fly direct from Moncton to Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Florida (Orlando).

^ I see this was already mentioned above, but here is part of the article:


Read more:
http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/...-in-St-Johns/1



I think one of the noted problems at St. John's Airport is the lack of public transit. Is this the case elsewhere too ?

I had no idea Bathurst got as much traffic as it does.

As for public transportation, I don't believe Moncton or Fredericton airports are served by municipal bus service. I don't know about Saint John.

Fredericton is somewhat understandable, as YFC is a solid 15 minute drive out of town. While the area in between is built up, I would hazard to guess that it isn't to an extent high enough to justify transit.

Moncton, on the other hand, doesn't have any excuse. The airport is a 7 minute drive from downtown, and is next to the fastest growing industrial park in the city (which also has no dedicated mass transit). However the old terminal/flight college is on a route. It is a stop on the Acadian Lines inter-city bus route though.

Fredericton Transit only operates within city limits. The Lincoln bus turns around at the last intersection in the city, and that's still a good 5-6 km away. Never heard anyone even suggest extending service to the airport.

Saint John does have an airport route, though it only runs 12 hours a day, 5 days a week:
http://www.saintjohntransit.com/cont...ps/Route32.pdf

I agree... Moncton should have a route, the airport is also the busiest in the province so i'm certain it would do well. Also the biggest hotels in Moncton are downtown and if the route starts downtown...:tup: :haha:

I hope they start one soon because like mylesmalley said, there is no excuse! :cool:

:previous:

Codiac Transit is indeed contemplating an airport route as part of their strategic plan. This does not necessarily mean that it will happen. The taxi industry is lobbying against it. Also, the economics may be against the proposal. A disproportionate number of the flights at the airport leave in the early morning (6-8 AM) and arrive back late in the evening (10-12 PM).

St. John's doesn't have Transit from the airport to downtown either. Taxi's are making a fortune because they charge flat rates that are a lot more expensive. There were comments about this in that article posted.

I know that in 2008 there was a talk about building an overpass linking
Route 15 to the GMIA, I hope it's not a dead idea... It would save lots of time for travellers!

That's been tossed around since the new terminal was built - probably as far bas as 2002. It's pretty obvious that the airport needs that overpass. What's the point of building next to a freeway if you don't have access?? I've been told though that Dieppe's first priority is widening Dieppe Blvd over the highway. The traffic over that particular bridge far exceeds that going to the airport, but I still think a new bridge at the airport would be the better investment. The city is investing heavily in expanding the industrial park, and residential and commercial development in the far end of the city has been pretty significant. A second overpass would greatly improve access to the whole area. More importantly, it would take a lot of pressure off Dieppe Blvd.

I'm a bit biassed now, mind you. Not having an overpass there means that my commute is at least three minutes longer going home than it is getting to work, regardless of the time of day. We're the only building on the street at the moment, but the lack of access to Rt 15 means that at least 180 minutes of extra driving is required every day. When the park is full, and there are several hundred people working there, the waste in fuel will be very significant.

Sydney Airport
 

Finally got around to this.

Figures from Saint John as posted on their website.


Saint John Airport Traffic Grows

Tue, Jan 11, 2011

The Saint John Airport announced preliminary results today that its overall 2010 traffic increased over 2009 despite a year of slow growth in the economy.

Over 227,000 passengers travelled through the Saint John Airport during 2010, which equates to a 2.2% increase over the prior year. Both airlines serving Saint John Airport, Air Canada and Sunwing, experieiced increased traffic.

Further details are expected to be released shortly.

Just checked and Saint John Airport is serviced by Saint John transit

Not very well though, the schedule sucks.

Press Release from the St. John's Airport Authority on the new expansion.

http://www.stjohnsairport.com/press/...tail.cfm?id=26


I wonder if the new access road means upgrading or replacing the existing entrance?

Hopefully, the road isn't really that great and their signage altogether on Portugal Cove Road is horrible.

The signage on our roads is bad in general, but the signs in and around the airport are horrible, I believe it was mentioned in a report a few years back. I hope the replace the uncontrolled intersection of Craig Dobbin and Portugal Cove Rd with something more modern.

On the first page, I believe, of the Canada airport thread it mentions the report and the signage problems in St. John's.

They should rename the airport too.

Agreed. Maybe something like St. John's-John Cabot International Airport

Personally I'm sick of naming things John Cabot. I heard Craig Dobbin International mentioned after his death which I liked, I'd also like to see more things here named after former politicians. Danny Williams International!

I like the use of historical names, but understand your statement about John Cabot being over used. Some others that popped into my head are "Sir Humphrey Gilbert International", "Leif Ericson International", or even "Sir Robert Bond International"

Using political names can be dicey. There's no guarantee they would be popular or very well respected in a few years

While that may be true I always say while everyone may not like politicians it doesn't change the fact they contributed to their continuents. Look at all the things named after Joey Smallwood, yet there's very little on any other politician.

I just landed in the Halifax airport from Saint John on my way overseas for a few days and can't but think how silly we are in NB. If you said there was going to be an airport in SJ, Fred, and Moncton you would expect the traffic to be roughly split evenly three ways amounting to roughly 350,000 passengers per airport.

However the Moncton airport has successful beyond what anyone could have expected, mostly as a result of some federal funding (irrelevant to the point), and yet it is sill not even close to enough passengers to offer a reasonable level of service for a business traveler.

I understand there are some seasonal holiday destinations, but in reality the only destinations served out of New Brunswick are Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and once a day to Newark.

If the province ever wants to get serious about moving forward economically, and offer the air transportation that significant businesses require the airports need to be combined.

I don't know what "federal funding" you're talking about. It's true we did get some money for a new apron for the Francophonie Summit, but that's pretty much it. In fact the GMIA was penalized at the outset for being the first airport that Transport Canada decided to privatize. The local airport authority got a raw deal on that one, with all subsequent privatizations being much more equitable in terms of start-up funding......

The Moncton Airport has always been successful, but also by being the first airport in the region out of the gate with privatization, the local airport authority was able to be proactive with the carriers in terms of securing new routes or expanding services on existing routes. This gave us a head start.

Having said this, I don't disagree with you about there being too many airports in southern NB. What would you do though, amalgamate services at one of the existing airports or build an entirely new one in Sussex. The Sussex option would likely cost at least a half billion dollars.

I can't see any government playing favourites with an existing airport now, or building a brand new airport......it would be political suicide!

The only logical place would be in the Sussex area. It is a shame that the Moncton airport had not been built 30-40 KM's west of the city instead of the 5-10 East that it is so that the commute would be under an hour for both Fred and SJ. I think if that were the case the argument could be made to close the other two. Unfortunately that is not the case and none of the airports will ever be closed unless it is for a centralized airport which virtually everyone agrees is the correct strategy.

With the state of the current economy this is obviously not something that is going to happen in the short term and may never happen.

I dont expect a centralized NB airport will ever happen, not enough of the population uses airports to warrant the cost, however we will never have proper air service until it does.

That's not much for being 50% of the provincial total when you consider 1.3 million flew out of St. John's. New Brunswick has other modes of transportation that is easy to take unlike Newfoundland and Labrador however but still. Moncton isn't that much smaller then St. John's, one large "regional" airport would be smart for all 3 cities. Maybe David Alward should pass legislation moving the capital and all of the people living in Saint John and Fredericton to Moncton?

That's dangerous talk, PoscStudent. Dangerous, indeed. :haha:.

Tried to fly out of to Vegas two Saturday's ago...only airport that the morning flights cancelled, Moncton. SJ, Freddy, Charlottetown, Halifax all open and flying...Moncton, no go.

Some of my family said that they won't fly out of Moncton again in the winter...

(they'd even go so far as to drive to Bangor, where the tickets are half the price)

JL

:previous:

This has been a particularly hard winter. Too bad you had a bad experience.

Stats show that the GMIA has a better track record for on time performance than either Halifax or St. John's (fog).

They've had this experience numerous times here unfortunately...bad luck I guess.

RE: Hard Winter...scary thing is, we've only had snow on the ground permanently for 6 weeks. ;)

JL

Unfortunately our proximity to the Bangor airport is another key ingredient in what is holding our airports back. There is a huge portion of pleasure travellers heading to Bangor as the fares are about half the price and the routes are much better. As a business traveler where fare cost is irrelevant I have done the drive myself a few times simply because I can actually save on total travel time by utilizing their routes.

I can tell you that I took off from Halifax around midnight on Saturday evening in the middle of the storm in weather that would grounded all planes that fly in New Brunswick.

Eventually we will see a centralized airport where we can potentially compete against either HFX or BGR, but probably not in time for any of us to take advantage of it, and I am in my twenties, lol.

:previous:

Flight from Moncton: $749

Moncton to Toronto, Toronto to Vegas

Flight from Bangor: $418 (56% of Air Canada flight)

Bangor to Philly, Philly to Vegas.

JL

It cost something like $1200 for someone I know to get a last minute flight from Moncton to St. John's. Of course it costs that much to fly across the island.

Seasonal flights from GMIA are starting! Cancun started a couple of weeks ago and Orlando started today! :tup:

Was on a flight from Heathrow to Toronto this morning and interestingly there was an article in the Toronto Star on Canadians flying out of the US. Last year, 21% of Canadian tourists drive to the US and flew from there. They anticipate as high as 32% of Canadians will do the same thing this year. Bangor, ME was listed as one of the highest volume airport for Canadians. That speaks volumes considering how low our population in the region is.

With the US about to add a $5.50 charge for any Canadian flying into the US, but not driving, I can see this continuing.

T&T reported today that Porter will increase service frequency to Toronto and Ottawa from the GMIA to daily (from four times weekly) in April and then to twice daily beginning in June.

There was no mention of Porter beginning service to either Saint John or Fredericton in this article.

Would have been nice to see a new destination offered, this doesn't help those of us who travel for a living much. :)

Airport runway to get major funding boost

Cathy LeBreton - News Staff Feb 21, 2011 10:48:36 AM

MONCTON, NB - National Revenue Minister Keith Ashfield is in New Brunswick today where he's set to announce funding for three major infrastructure projects.

The announcements include 4 million dollars to extend a runway at the Greater Moncton International Airport.

The money, which will be matched by the provincial government will help extend the airport's main runway from 6,150 to 10,500 feet to accommodate larger wide-bodied and heavy aircraft.

Ashfield is also announcing a 4.5 million dollar investment in SaintJohn's cruise gateway project and 5.2 million dollars to upgrade the airport in Fredericton.

Atlantic Canada's Major Airport, Halifax Stanfield International Airport Improvement List (to be completed in the next couple years in approximately 2013):

• New Runway Extension from 8,800 ft to 10,500 ft
• Re-doing departures domestic & international (except USA) south end area of terminal building to make terminal uniform from end to end
• New one-way terminal Roadway (Bell Boulevard) to loop back to Highway 102
• New on-site Hotel at terminal (175 rooms)
• New Loading Bridges
• Metro Transit Bus Service
• Other additional improvements

:previous:

I'm glad to see the airport improvements at both the GMIA and Halifax Stanfield.

Charlottetown Airport receiving improvements;

"In addition, the Charlottetown Airport terminal will be expanded to allow for more traffic. The project will cost $3.6 million, shared three ways between the Charlottetown Airport Authority, the province and the federal government."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince...4.html?ref=rss

Halifax already has some pretty good USA flights but it would be great to see some longer haul routes develop out of this. A Direct to SFO or DFW would really open things up. Might even make the flight from Saint John worthwhile. I would rather connect in HFX than Toronto or Montreal.

Airport feels left out of spending spree


Article source:
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/cana...spending-spree

Does anyone know what project the money for the Fredericton airport is earmarked for?